Biographies, memoirs

A worldwide railway engineering dynasty.Shepherd.Medium, 264 pages, photo and other illustrations, soft back. ** An ordinary family with a remarkably persistent engineering gene, the Attocks and Atocks served the Eastern Counties, GER, L&Y, LMS, and other undertakings in Ireland, Australasia, Burma, North Africa, Cuba and elsewhere.

Price:
£15.95

Through The Ranks On The Southern.
Ref: BM1380

A career in the nationalised railway industry. RS8.Aynsley, B W.Medium, 208 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **Story of the author's 39 year career in the railways, working his way up from engine cleaner to an important post in middle management.

Price:
£13.95

Behind The Steam.
Ref: BM1592

Morgan, W & Meyrick, B.Large, 222 pages + 16 pages of photo illustrations, hard back. **An old favourite - the reminiscences of Bill Morgan, who worked for the GWR at Neyland in Pembrokeshire, now in a new edition with extra photos.

Price:
£14.95

Lawson Billinton.
Ref: BM2345

A career cut short. OL142.Marx.Medium, 192 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **Last of the LBSCR locomotive engineers. Displaced at the grouping, at the age of only 40, he took early retirement.

Price:
£13.95

Robert Billinton.
Ref: BM2502

An engineer under pressure. OL147.Marx.Medium, 152 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. ** "Robert Billinton, last of the autocrats to run his empire in true Victorian style and discipline, bestrode the LBSCR like a colossus, managing an elephantine department as locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent, with a brief to overview the marine department, the company's engineering equipment and a hundred and one other matters."

Price:
£13.95

Saga By Rail: Great Britain And The Isle Of Man.
Ref: BM2344

RS17.Boyd, J I C.Medium, 192 pages, photos, maps, soft back. **Mr Boyd's reminiscences of railways, mainly narrow gauge, from 1925 onwards. He made a virtue of finding out and poking around the most obscure lines. There are some splendid photos.

Price:
£14.95

Brunel The Great Engineer.
Ref: BM0342

Bryan.Large, 160 pages. Hard back. **A comprehensive and heavily illustrated account of the engineer. Most attention is paid to Brunel's activities on the railways, and one chapter is devoted to his steam ships. Out of print - last copy.

Railway signal engineer of Worcester.Dorricot.Very large, 256 pages, photo illustrations (some coloured), diagrams and drawings from contemporary sources, glazed boards. **Dutton was employed in the signalling industry for thirty years before he founded his own company - Dutton & Co - in the wake of the Armagh disaster to provide the interlocking systems required by new safety legislation. He worked in Britain, Ireland and overseas; much of his work is still extant on preserved railways, in museums and a little is still in use on the national railway system. Very readable account of the man and his many achievements.

Price:
£30.00

Engineer Of Revolutionary Russia.
Ref: BM2799

Iurii V Lomonosov (1876-1952) and the railways.Heywood.Large, 400 pages + 24 pages of photo plates, other black and white illustrations, six diagrams in text. Hard back. **A remarkable man, whose career embraced science, engineering and diplomacy. He played a major role in the shaping and administration of Russian railways, was a pioneer of diesel traction, defected to the west in 1927, afterwards working in Britain and America. He died in Canada in 1952.

Price:
£75.00

From Bridges To Big 'Uns.
Ref: BM3527

A sort of West Side Story.Coster.Very large, 176 pages, many photo illustrations with some period colour, glazed boards. **Engaging reminiscences of the author's career as a civil engineer with BR (LM), illustrated with his own photos which include many fine shots of steam workings as well as examples of civil engineering work.

Price:
£27.95

Sir Nigel Gresley. The engineer and his family.
Ref: BM1128

Hughes.Medium, 216 pages, soft back.

Price:
£14.95

A Life On The Lines.
Ref: BM3160

A railwayman's album.Hardy, R H N.Medium, squarish, 160 page album, with quite a lot of narrative text between the pictures, pictorial paper-covered boards with cloth backstrip. **Photos taken by Dick "Steam In The Blood" Hardy, throughout his long and distinguished railway career, together with other pictures (quite a few interesting poster images, which add colour to the pages). Nicely produced, and a pleasure to read.

Price:
£14.99

Sir John Hawkshaw 1811 - 1891.
Ref: BM3407

The life and work of an emininent Victorian engineer.Beaumont.Very large, 160 pages, photo and other illustrations from contemporary sources (some colour), bibliography, glazed boards. ** Sir John Hawkshaw was a dominant figure in the early histroy of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway who went on to become one of the world's leading civil engineers in the second half of the nineteenth century. A worthwhile biography and excellent value.

Price:
£18.00

Birmingham Footplateman.
Ref: BM2416

A job for life. RS18.Herbert.Medium, 232 pages, photo illustrations. Soft back. **Memoirs of a footplate career 1949 - 1993.

Price:
£15.95

Steel Wheels And Rubber Tyres. Volume One.
Ref: BM1626

Transport around Oldham in the 1930s; locomotives at Gorton in the 1940s; Leeds trams in the 1950s.Hilditch, G.Medium, 168 pages, photo illustrations, maps. Soft back. *How one uninformed schoolboy tried to attain his early and overriding ambition to see his name in gold leaf on the side of a municipal tramcar, against those almost magic words "General Manager". RS10.

Price:
£12.95

Steel Wheels And Rubber Tyres. Volume Two.
Ref: BM1778

A General Manager's journey: Manchester, Plymouth, Great Yarmouth, Halifax.Hilditch, G.Medium, 184 pages, photo illustrations, maps. Soft back. *How one uninformed schoolboy tried to attain his early and overriding ambition to see his name in gold leaf on the side of a municipal tramcar, against those almost magic words "General Manager". RS11.

Price:
£12.95

Toy Story. Life And Times Of Frank Hornby.
Ref: BM1166

McReavy.Medium, 288 pages, hard back.

Price:
£17.99

William James (1771 - 1837).
Ref: BM2418

The man who discovered George Stephenson.Macnair.Medium, 144 pages, illustrated, hard back. ** "William James played a crucial, but largely unremembered, role in the development of inland transport in the industrial revolution. What set him apart from his better-known contemporaries was the scale of his vision and the range of activities he pursued during his long career: as a lawyer, surveyor, land agent and estate manager, geologist, coal-miner, inventor and civil engineer." This carefully researched and nicely-written book sets the record straight.

Price:
£24.95

Ron Jarvis.
Ref: BM1788

From Midland compound to the HST.Chacksfield, J E.Medium, 176 pages, photos, drawings, soft back. OL130. **Jarvis was born in 1911, began his career as locomotive engineer at Derby in 1928, saw service in Turkey, Brighton, Derby again as Mechanical Engineer, Design, retired in 1971, devoting his spare time to the Festiniog Railway. He died in 1994. Jarvis's career with locomotives covered the enormous range laconically hinted at in the sub-title; John Chacksfield has described his interesting life with insight of a fellow engineer.

Price:
£12.95

The King's Cross Fraudster.
Ref: BM3279

Leopold Redpath, his life and times.Hayes & Kamlish.Large, 188 pages, illustrated, soft back. **Biographies of successful embezzlers make good reading because a competent fraudster needs a strong and bold personality to carry off his designs while retaining the confidence of his victims. The colourful character who lifted the equivalent of £20 million from his employers, the Great Northern Railway, was unintentionally betrayed by the mistake of a porter who delivered the deed box containing his ill-gotten gains to the wrong address at the critical moment of his flight abroad. Redpath ended his days as a transported convict in Australia, there is a good deal of interesting information about conditions there.

Price:
£11.99

Under 10 CMEs. Volume One.
Ref: BM2894

Dugald Drummond to W A Stanier 1912-1944. RS22ALangridge.Medium, 232 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **Eric Langridge was an important contributor to locomotive history particularly through his monumental series "Under 10 CMEs" which appeared in the Journal of the Stephenson Locomotive Society in 28 instalments between 1973 - 1988. His apprenticeship was at Eastleigh, but the LSWR had no post for him, and he started work at the MR drawing office at Derby. He developed a specialisation in locomotive boilers. He ended his career as diesel assistant to the CME of the BR LM Region and retired in 1959. The SLS articles form the basis of this book which has been compiled and edited by John and Simon Marshall and Bruce Nathan. Out of print, one copy left.

Price:
£16.95

Under 10 CMEs. Volume Two.
Ref: BM2895

C E Fairburn to J F Harrison 1944-1959. RS22BLangridge.Medium, 232 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **Eric Langridge was an important contributor to locomotive history particularly through his monumental series "Under 10 CMEs" which appeared in the Journal of the Stephenson Locomotive Society in 28 instalments between 1973 - 1988. His apprenticeship was at Eastleigh, but the LSWR had no post for him, and he started work at the MR drawing office at Derby. He developed a specialisation in locomotive boilers. He ended his career as diesel assistant to the CME of the BR LM Region and retired in 1959. The SLS articles form the basis of this book which has been compiled and edited by John and Simon Marshall and Bruce Nathan.

Price:
£16.95

LBSC Footplate Experiences.
Ref: BM3145

Reminiscences at New Cross. RS4.Lawrence, Marks.Medium, 96 pages, photos, large scale plan of depot, soft back. **The reminiscences of 'Curly' Lawrence, the noted model engineer, who started his railway career at New Cross in the 1890s.

Price:
£7.95

Sir Ernest Lemon. A biography.
Ref: BM2857

The production engineer who modernised the LMS railway and equipped the RAF for war.Jenkins.Medium, 272 pages, photo illustrations, hard back.

Price:
£24.95

LNER Pacifics Remembered.
Ref: BM3236

Townend.Very large, 160 pages, many photos, some locomotive drawings, glazed boards. ** When Peter Townend was preparing East Coast Pacifics At Work in 1982 the publishers asked for contributions by other people writing about their own experiences with these locomotives. In the end there was not room to include them in the At Work volume. Now, over thirty years later, the material has gained in historical interest and the unpublished part of the manuscript is seen here for the first time." The list of notable railwaymen contributing includes Roland Bond and Gerry Fiennes.

Price:
£24.95

MacLeod's Other Island.
Ref: BM2883

The story of the Southern Railway's first assistant for the Isle of Wight.Hastings & Silsbury.Very large, 112 pages, many photo and other illustrations, glazed boards. ** Biography of A B MacLeod, a man of many parts. Career railwayman, sometime railway overlord of the Isle of Wight, collaborator with Ian Allan on his early abcs, enthusiast for model and miniature railways and a very charming man. We bought some books from him; as we left he glanced at the registration of our beloved Renault 16, R756PAK, "Ah, A S Harris", he remarked.

Price:
£22.95

Douglas Earle Marsh.
Ref: BM1979

His life and times. OL134.Marx.Medium, 160 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **Locomotive Superintendent on the LBSCR.

Price:
£12.95

Richard Maunsell: An Engineering Biography.
Ref: BM0474

Chacksfield.Medium, 160 pages. Soft back. **OL102.

Price:
£11.95

Sir William McAlpine.
Ref: BM2735

A tale of locomotives, carriages and conservation.Chacksfield.Medium, 120 pages, photos, soft back. Out of print, one copy left.

Price:
£10.95

Motor Rail Ltd.
Ref: BM3474

Simplex Motor Rail & Tramcar Co Ltd Bedford - England.Keef.Very large, 152 pages, photo illustrations, glazed boards. ** History of the Bedford locomotive builders and light engineers, formed in 1884 to build tramcars for Karachi. The author's company, Alan Keef Ltd, bought the business in 1987. This readable account covers the full history and product ranges of the company together with individual histories of some of its extant locomotives.

Price:
£22.50

Off Northampton Shed.
Ref: BM2257

The reminiscences of an LMS fireman.Mutton.Very large, 186 pages, illustrated with photographs and several sections of OS 25" maps, hard back. **The author became a cleaner at Northampton shed in 1943 and remained there throughout his footplate career which took him over the ex LNWR lines in the area in the final stages of the war, and into the mid fifties.

Price:
£29.95

Taken By Trains.
Ref: BM1789

The life and photographs of William Nash, 1909 - 1952.Robinson, K & Forsythe, R.Medium landscape, 192 pages, soft back. **Second volume of Nash's photographic collection, presented with much background biographical material. Views, mostly of locomotives and trains, are taken around the country between the wars; there are also some European pictures. Nash lost his life in the Harrow rail crash in 1952. X78.

Price:
£13.95

On The Footplate At Bushbury 1947-1962.
Ref: BM2136

An engineman's tale. RS15.Terry.Medium, 224 pages, some photo illustrations, diagrams and map of Wolverhampton area railways, soft back. **Reminiscences of a West Midlands fireman; includes a detailed chapter on the functioning of a steam locomotive.

Price:
£13.95

Over The Alps On The Watercress Line.
Ref: BM2684

Realising a boyhood dream in the 21st century.Richardson.Medium, 143 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. ** Reminiscences of a driver on the Mid-Hants.

Price:
£11.95

Samuel Morton Peto (1809 - 1889).
Ref: BM2534

The achievements and failings of a great railway developer.Cox.Medium, 128 pages, illustrated, some colour, hard back. ** Peto was a prominent figure in business and transport in the mid-victorian age and left an impressive range of practical achievements, the best known surely being Nelson's column, but also the magnificent railway viaducts at Folkestone and Hanwell. He was a railway contractor in Britain, Denmark, Canada and the Crimea, but his work on what is now Thameslink led to his bankruptcy and destroyed his position as a leading British entrepreneur.

Price:
£24.95

Pioneers Of The Highland Tracks.
Ref: BM3039

William & Murdoch Paterson. A biography of two railway engineers.Paterson.Large, 80 pages, map, photo illustrations, soft back. **Murdoch Paterson was responsible for the planning of the line from Aviemore to Inverness, with some difficult engineering and two large viaducts; he also designed the Dingwall to Kyle line. William Murdoch, older and less well-known, was assistant and then partner of Joseph Mitchell, of the Highland Railway.

Price:
£9.90

Railway Moon.
Ref: BM3009

Some aspects of the life of Richard Moon 1814-1899, chairman of the London & North Western Railway 1861-91.Braine.Medium, 516 pages, maps, some photo and other illustrations, soft back. **Moon followed an unusual course into the railways. He had taken early retirement from business but found his holding of LNWR shares loosing their value. Such was the interest he took in the company's management that he was appointed to the board, and subsequently became chairman. He had a remarkable grasp of detail and "that infinite capacity for taking pains which Carlyle identified with genius".

North Eastern Railway locomotive engineer.Everett.Medium, 223 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **Raven rose from engineering apprentice (1875) to CME (1910) in the NER. His steam locomotives were stylish and practical and his early advocacy of electric traction gave the NER a reputation for forward-thinking development.

Price:
£19.99

Sir William Stanier.
Ref: BM1129

A new biography.Chacksfield.Medium, 168 pages, photos, soft back.

Price:
£11.95

Steam, Diesels And On-Track Machines.
Ref: BM3004

From Colwick to Derby via the East Coast Main Line. RS23.Meredith.Medium, 240 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **John Meredith was a fitter, starting in 1954 at Colwick, moving to Finsbury Park, Hitchin, Derby, Beeston and Nottingham and finishing his railway career in the Derby Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineer's department, but based in Nottingham.

Price:
£15.95

Robert Stephenson: Railway Engineer.
Ref: BM2100

Addyman & Haworth.Very large, 172 pages, well illustrated with photos and contemporary prints (some colour), locomotive and other drawings, maps, diagrams, glazed boards. ** "Stephenson is decidedly the only man in the profession that I feel disposed to meet as my equal, or superior, perhaps, on such subjects": I K Brunel, 5.5.1846; he was not writing of George. A long overdue biography.

Price:
£19.95

Archibald Sturrock.
Ref: BM2363

Pioneer locomotive engineer.Vernon.Medium, 192 pages, photo illustrations and locomotive drawings, soft back. **By 1840 Sturrock was working with Brunel and Gooch on the GWR; later he was locomotive engineer for the GNR and subsequently played a lead role in founding the Yorkshire engine company. The author is his great great grandson.

Price:
£14.99

Swindon Engineman.
Ref: BM2269

Shurmer & Fenton.Very large, 272 pages. Hard back. **A record of Mr Shurmer's footplate experiences, the turns he worked in each link and the running of Swindon shed during a long career beginning in 1936. Includes a brief history of Swindon engine sheds and a jolly howler on p26.

Price:
£35.95

F W Webb 1836 - 1906.
Ref: BM3031

A bibliography.Spink.Very large, 90 pages + 8 pages of colour plates, other photo illustrations, chronology, index, soft back. **An intensively researched bibliography of the great locomotive engineer's written works, and of works about him. Much biographical material is included.

Price:
£15.00

F W Webb.
Ref: BM2292

In the right place at the right time. OL141.Chacksfield.Medium, 144 pages, photo illustrations, soft back.

Price:
£11.95

West Country Railway Memories.
Ref: BM3159

Rose-tinted reflections of some rural railways past and present. RS25.Prance.Medium, 224 pages, many photos, bibliography, soft back. **Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. A good present for someone who likes to recall the steam age in these counties.

Price:
£15.95

William Dean.
Ref: BM2960

The greatest of them all.Clements.Very large, 228 pages, photo illustrations, drawings, allocations and other tabulated data, bibliography, glazed boards. ** Dean's life, locomotives and his legacy, including the story of the "Dean Goods" at home and at war.

An objective assessment.Peddie.Very large, 168 pages, many photo illustrations, drawings, diagrams, glazed boards. ** The 956 class of four locomotives was designed to work 425 ton passenger express trains between Glasgow and Carlisle or Aberdeen. The locomotives were out-shopped in 1921. They had three cylinders and a novel 2:1 derived motion for the centre cylinder. Unaccountably a number of recognised technical imperatives were neglected, initial tests were disappointing and the locomotives withdrawn at an early date. This book analyses the failings, their probably causes and the potential modifications which could have been implemented.It was a handsome, powerful-looking 4-6-0; making one to work properly would be a worthwhile project for the new-build steam contingent.

The builder of the Tay Bridge.Rapley.Medium, 192 pages, photo and other illustrations, soft back. **Bouch was a maverick among engineers and became famous when he developed roll-on/roll-off wagon ferries for the Edinburgh & Northern Railway to cross the Forth and Tay, but it was his later Tay Bridge and his remarkable design for a Forth Bridge that brought him a knighthood.

Price:
£17.99

Brunel
Ref: BM1094

The life and times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.Buchanan, A.Medium, 294 pages + 16 pages of plates, extensive bibliography, hardback. **A biography both of the engineer and of the man, setting him in the context of his times.

Price:
£25.00

Life Of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer.
Ref: BM1917

Brunel.Medium, 568 pages, illustrated, soft back. *Reprint of Longmans 1870 edition of the biography of Brunel by his son. The woodcuts and engravings are all reproduced, two of the engravings (Hungerford and Royal Albert bridges) being separately reproduced to a high standard and tipped in. Excellent value for so substantial a work.

Price:
£20.00

Zerah Colburn The Spirit Of Darkness.
Ref: BM2270

Mortimer.Medium, 505 pages, glazed boards. **Colburn, 1832-70, was an important engineer, journalist and publisher but died in poverty, broken by drink, an opium habit and other problems. He founded "Engineering" and several other journals, compiled authorative books on locomotive engineering and presented many technical papers to the engineers' institutions in London. However, he was an enigmatic man with so violent a temper that his colleagues named him "spirit of darkness".

Price:
£35.00

Thomas Cook.
Ref: BM1908

The holiday-maker.Hamilton.Medium, 280 pages + 16 pages of plates, hard back. **There have been many histories of the famous travel firm; here is the first full-length biography of Cook himself. He was from a humble background, a Baptist, a man of deep faith, who was determined to improve the lot of the working classes. As well as opening up travel to the masses, in his early years he started soup kitchens and led a campaign for the repeal of the Corn Laws; he was also a strong supporter of the temperance movement. A very readable book.

Price:
£20.00

Crewe Remembered.
Ref: BM2044

Baker, A C.Very large, 96 pages, many photo illustrations, works site plans. Soft back. **Essays on aspects of Crewe and its locomotives: Life at Crewe North; Points & Signals; Crewe - Perth working. Author spent the first 12 years of his working life at Crewe North shed.

Price:
£12.95

Didcot Engineman.
Ref: BM0173

Barlow, B.Very large, 272 pages. Hard back. **Author started as lad porter at Oxford in the 30s and was based at Didcot through the 40s and 50s. Details the problems of the war years and the daily routine of Didcot.

Price:
£21.95

Glasgow Railway Memories.
Ref: BM1022

Smith, W A C & Anderson, P.Very large, 52 pages, lavishly illustrated with photos, soft back. **"Not just a close-up of Glasgow trains but a look at life in the city from wartime to the end of steam in 1967".

Price:
£7.95

Charles Holden Architect.
Ref: BM2393

Karol, E.Large, 510 pages, illustrated with photos and drawings, includes 48 page colour section, hard back. **Biography of the architect of many fine London Underground stations, also University of London buildings in Bloomsbury etc. The colour pictures are particularly good.

Price:
£49.50

George Hudson.
Ref: BM1356

The rise and fall of the Railway King.Bailey.Medium, 186 pages, illustrated, hard back. **This, the earlier of the two current books with the same title and very similar subtitles, concentrates on the character of the man, what drove him to rise from farmer's lad to great entrepreneur and MP, and what led him to sink into disgrace.

Price:
£16.99

George Hudson.
Ref: BM1991

The rise and fall of the Railway King: a study in Victorian entrepreneurship.Arnold & McCartney.Medium, 317 pages + 8 pages of illustrations, hard back. **This is the more recent of the two current books with the same title and very similar subtitles. It describes how Hudson used his enormous energy and flair for publicity to draw the investing public into his visionary schemes, and how his name came to be synonymous with fraudulent capitalism at its most brazen. The story of his dramatic career tells us a great deal about the times in which he lived.

BarnettMedium, 112 pages, photos, maps, soft back. **Sebastian Meyer, an entrepreneur involved in the creation and operation of a network of minor and secondary lines in the north east of England from the 1880s onward.

A Victorian engineering giant.Pennie.Very large, 96 pages, generously illustrated: photos, plans, drawings, soft back. **One of the second wave of Victorian engineers, increasingly concerned with the reliability of machinery which was now no longer merely excitingly innovative. Through organisational zeal and forward thinking he took standardisation to an unprecedented level and made the workshops at Crewe a byword for self-sufficiency.

Price:
£9.95

Landscape Trilogy.
Ref: BM0697

The autobiography of L T C Rolt.Rolt, L T C.Medium, 651 pages, soft back. **Autobiography of Tom Rolt, reissued as three volumes in one, and now as a paperback.

Essays in honour of Jack Simmons.Bailey, M (ed).Large, 401 pages + 16 pages of coloured plates, other black and white illustrations, maps and diagrams in text. Hard back. **Twelve essays on Stephenson's influence, achievement, innovation and technique, including particular studies of the building of the London & Birmingham, railway building more generally, iron railway bridges, masonry structures and water engineering.

Price:
£55.00

Tales From The Clay Country: Working With Steam In Cornwall.
Ref: BM2864

Rundle.Very large, 152 pages, many photo illustrations, large clear track plans of the main stations and engine sheds, glazed boards. ** A portrayal of the work of the Great Western in Cornwall and in particular the steam sheds at St Blazey, Truro and Penzance; together with the Southern men and their engines at Wadebridge, and (because it was intimately connected with these lines, despite remaining stubbornly in Devon) the great Plymouth shed at Laira. A sequel to the author's Laira Fireman

Price:
£19.95

Edward Thompson.
Ref: BM2414

of the LNER.Grafton.Medium, 131 pages, photo illustrations, soft back. **Thompson was in railway service for nearly 45 years and was CME of the LNER during the 1940s. The biography naturally also provides much information about LNER locomotives. Out of print, one copy left.